Boston Health Care and Research Training Institute

CONTACT:

c/o Jewish Vocation Service 29 Winter Street 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02108
617-399-3180
www.jvs-boston.org/

Kira Khazatsky, Director of Workforce Development

DESCRIPTION:

BHC&RTI is a career ladder, created in 2002 to resolve two connected problems: 1) medical employers needed more nurses, technicians, and other skilled workers, and high turnover in low-paying unskilled jobs was too costly; 2) entry-level workers, with insufficient pay to support their families, could not advance without more skills. Leaders of the community development corporations in Jamaica Plain and the Fenway saw these issues in the nearby Longwood Medical area. The solution: a job ladder, in which training programs at the lowest levels encouraged upward mobility. It: a) increased the supply of skilled workers; b) built incentives to remain in jobs with attached training programs; and c) raised employee morale and productivity by providing an upward path. Adults they worked with — half immigrants, 90% of color, speaking 40 languages, many with limited English—needed better jobs to make ends meet and training to help qualify them. They created BHC&RTI in partnership with employers. Today over 500 employees have been trained, 55% have been promoted or received merit increases — a “win-win” for both employers and employees. The system needs philanthropic reinforcement, and individual donors can help. Would you?

(2006: HUMAN SERVICES: Well-Being)